BETA: 1.25

[Xyth]

I've redownloaded, reinstalled and restarted multiple times. Steam still loads an old version, without Armenians and Scythians. No idea why. Could Steam be accessing the game from somewhere besides the BTS on my hard-drive? I've tossed out the old History Rewritten and put the new folder in MODS. I've played hundreds of hours of HR on this laptop, many versions, never had trouble with installation before.

Once you get in game, open the Settings panel (cog icon in the top left) and go to the System tab. It will display the file paths that BTS is using to load HR. Check those locations out and see if there's an old version of HR there or something.

 

[Xyth]

Quick update:

• I haven't solved that mysterious civics crash yet, but I'm making slow progress. Many factors ruled out.
• I've started overhauling the Foreign Advisor but it's going to take quite a while to complete so it'll have to be released one page at a time.
• Since most serious bugs seem to be fixed (or undiscovered) I've started doing some balancing work.
• Next version will have to be a full redownload.
• Busy week ahead for me, but I'll try have it ready by next weekend.

I really appreciate all the feedback and bug/balance reports so far, keep 'em coming!

 

[Zorro777]

We really appreciate your dedication to the project!!

 

[rsab]

Hi Xyth, first of all great thanks for your dedication.

And I must tell I-m enjoying so much the new music, it-s amazing how it changes the game experience {at least for me}.

I didn-t have time to play far on the game, but here some minor things I-ve noticed: {on Windows}

> Sometimes the AI offers me to trade... nothing. Just and empty box. Also sometimes they break an agreement of... nothing.
> Sometimes they offer to trade a resource, and I decline. But then I check the trade dialogue and the same resource they offered is not available to trade.
> Now the AI considers to have the same source multiple times, or to offer one source to you multiple times. That-s new, and if I-m not wrong it can be useful only when some of the sources provides you Great Prophet points. Not sure if is it intended.
> I take benefit of a little tricky: to sell one resource {sometimes they pay more than 100bucks for it} and after 10 turns I break the agreement and re-sell the same source for 100 bucks again. I feel this action a too easy financing way, maybe it should be limited.
> I lack a lot of information about the new trade and politics agreements. I-m looking for the pedia entries of those mechanics.
> Sometimes one civ keeps on a very repetitive dynamic: share embassy, now I eradicate the embassy, now I would like again to share an embassy again, now I eradicate again... don-t know how to prevent this.
> For my taste the new diplomacy options sometimes makes you dedicate too much time to micromanage the diplomacy. I would do the diplomacy just a little bit more consistent or simple.
> I-ve played a game were the Thai horsemen ride pink horses... never seen this before.
> I-ve played one game with the Diplomatic trait and I-m not able to see if the good opinion bonus is applied... I-t didn-t seem to me.
> About K-mod there-s only one thing I don-t like: the AI easily let-s the city undefended on the starting game. I mean, sometimes I declare war on the first turns {when they only have one warrior defending the capital} and the warrior sometimes comes to my encounter and let-s the capital with no defences at all. It-s a very small thing, and maybe is not easy to prevent this behaviour... don-t know.
> Somebody already said: now the game is too peaceful, AI hardly declare wars.

Thanks!!!

 

[Xyth]

Missed this post for some reason, sorry! Thanks for the feedback.

And I must tell I-m enjoying so much the new music, it-s amazing how it changes the game experience {at least for me}.

It's great isn't it? Music for the Scythians and Armenians is coming in the next update. (They currently share the Kushan and Hittite music, respectively).

Sometimes the AI offers me to trade... nothing. Just and empty box. Also sometimes they break an agreement of... nothing.

I've not seen this before. If you could post a saved game where it occurs, would be helpful.

Sometimes they offer to trade a resource, and I decline. But then I check the trade dialogue and the same resource they offered is not available to trade.

What for they wanting for the resource? Will help me narrow down where in the code to look.

Now the AI considers to have the same source multiple times, or to offer one source to you multiple times. That-s new, and if I-m not wrong it can be useful only when some of the sources provides you Great Prophet points. Not sure if is it intended.

I'm not sure I understand this. What do you mean by 'source' ?

I take benefit of a little tricky: to sell one resource {sometimes they pay more than 100bucks for it} and after 10 turns I break the agreement and re-sell the same source for 100 bucks again. I feel this action a too easy financing way, maybe it should be limited.

Was this possible in previous versions of HR or just in this beta?

I lack a lot of information about the new trade and politics agreements. I-m looking for the pedia entries of those mechanics.

Still to come. I need to finalize the mechanics a bit further before I can write it all up.

Sometimes one civ keeps on a very repetitive dynamic: share embassy, now I eradicate the embassy, now I would like again to share an embassy again, now I eradicate again... don-t know how to prevent this.

Which leader? This is (mostly) determined by leader personality and is easily adjusted.

For my taste the new diplomacy options sometimes makes you dedicate too much time to micromanage the diplomacy. I would do the diplomacy just a little bit more consistent or simple.

It definitely needs to been streamlined more than it is atm. Which aspects do you feel need to be trimmed/refined most?

I-ve played a game were the Thai horsemen ride pink horses... never seen this before.

Pink indicates a missing texture. Fixed for next update, cheers.

I-ve played one game with the Diplomatic trait and I-m not able to see if the good opinion bonus is applied... I-t didn-t seem to me.

It's applying but not displaying or being counted in the UI for some reason. Investigating.

About K-mod there-s only one thing I don-t like: the AI easily let-s the city undefended on the starting game. I mean, sometimes I declare war on the first turns {when they only have one warrior defending the capital} and the warrior sometimes comes to my encounter and let-s the capital with no defences at all. It-s a very small thing, and maybe is not easy to prevent this behaviour... don-t know.

Not something I know how to solve, sorry.

Somebody already said: now the game is too peaceful, AI hardly declare wars.

Yep, working on it.

 

[rsab]

I've not seen this before. If you could post a saved game where it occurs, would be helpful.

Ok, I'll try. Unfortunately this is a hard week for me... but as soon as I'm able to dedicate some time to the game I'll post a saved game.

What for they wanting for the resource? Will help me narrow down where in the code to look.

They are normally asking me for another resource. Also I'll try to send you a saved game.

I'm not sure I understand this. What do you mean by 'source' ?

Oh sorry, I was meaning "resource", not "source". The thing is that now I can receive two identical resources from the same civilization via trading. That's new on this beta version.

Was this possible in previous versions of HR or just in this beta?

Absolutely new of this beta version. Actually, before this beta version the resources were possible to be traded for an specific amount per turn. Now the trade also allows you to exchange resources for an absolute amount of money. And then is when this little tricky could take place.

Still to come. I need to finalize the mechanics a bit further before I can write it all up.

Ok!

Which leader? This is (mostly) determined by leader personality and is easily adjusted.

mmm... not sure now. I'll check.

It definitely needs to been streamlined more than it is atm. Which aspects do you feel need to be trimmed/refined most?

Can't answer this yet... I need more time on this version. Actually I've dedicated very few time.


Thanks!!!

 

[Xyth]

Ok, I'll try. Unfortunately this is a hard week for me... but as soon as I'm able to dedicate some time to the game I'll post a saved game.

Actually, you might as well hold off until I've posted a new update. Busy time for me at the moment for me too, but hoping to have it ready within a few days.

Oh sorry, I was meaning "resource", not "source". The thing is that now I can receive two identical resources from the same civilization via trading. That's new on this beta version.

Multiple resources are useful for corporations, but it's a bit unusual if they're offering multiple copies before corporations are active.

Absolutely new of this beta version. Actually, before this beta version the resources were possible to be traded for an specific amount per turn. Now the trade also allows you to exchange resources for an absolute amount of money. And then is when this little tricky could take place.

Ah I see what you mean. Yeah, that is definitely a problem.

 

[Xyth]

Good news! I've figured out how to get the Windows version of HR to load different versions of certain XML files from the Mac version. It was actually a remarkably easy solution, wish I'd looked into this much earlier. It solves two major problems with the current beta: the need for Mac users to patch in a different version of CIV4LeaderHeadInfos.xml, and all the new United Nations options showing up on the Mac despite being non-functional.

However, it also opens other possibilities. In particular, I've long wanted to have Doctor specialists provide health instead of food, and Priest specialists provide happiness instead of commerce. Sadly, this will always be impossible on Mac, but I can now implement it on Windows without breaking things on the Mac side (where they'd still provide food and commerce as usual). There's some AI code I still need to figure out how to merge, but if I can, I'll have this in the next update.

 

[Woad]

Oh, so you intended to have doctors provide health? I've always modded my doctors to provide that on my own. Recently I even removed the ability to settle great people, because I've always found them to be simple unbalanced city boosters. The game is so much better for me without them. No more great doctors feeding a city in the middle of a desert.

 

[keldath]

in my kmod sdk i merged in great people mod that adds health and happiness xml tags to them, it works well.

 

[Xyth]

Oh, so you intended to have doctors provide health? I've always modded my doctors to provide that on my own.

A while back I started merging the component that allows specialists to provide happiness and health, but I stopped when I realised it was going to break Mac compatibility. So although the iHappiness and iHeath tags are available in the XML they're not fully functional. In particular, the code for the AI to evaluate how useful such specialists are is missing. It will all be in place for 1.25 though.

 

[FlyingPig]

I have what I think is the same civics-related crash I've had before. The 680 BCE save works OK. The 520 BCE save crashes to desktop upon clicking end turn.

 

[BBQ man]

Once you get in game, open the Settings panel (cog icon in the top left) and go to the System tab. It will display the file paths that BTS is using to load HR. Check those locations out and see if there's an old version of HR there or something.

Working on a new laptop now; never could figure it out on that old one. But still can't load 1.25 via Steam on Mac after swapping out the updated Asset files etc.

Getting this message: GFC Error: failed to initialize primary control theme

 

[BBQ man]

~/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/Common/Sid Meier's Civilization IV Beyond the Sword/Mods/

OK, saw the message about this error in old thread. Right now it is installed in Documents folder. But the above remedy does not work. There is no Steam file in my Application Support, no SteamApps folder anywhere. Online I cannot find anyone with a simple answer as to how to install Mods via Steam for BTS. This is the first time I have not had BTS installed directly on my HD, only via Steam, but there seems to be no other way really. Incredibly annoying after playing for 20 years, since Civ 2, to be stumped like this.

Anyone have a solution? Keep in mind that I know nothing about computers at all.

 

[Xyth]

I have what I think is the same civics-related crash I've had before. The 680 BCE save works OK. The 520 BCE save crashes to desktop upon clicking end turn.

No, this is a different crash. Investigating.

~/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/Common/Sid Meier's Civilization IV Beyond the Sword/Mods/

That'll be the correct path. The tricky thing is that macOS actually has 3 different Library folders. The "~" at the start of that path indicates it's the one in your Home folder, and on some versions of macOS this is hidden by default. In Finder, navigate to your Home folder and then choose "Show View Options" from the View menu. Near the bottom of the panel that pops up is a checkbox for "Show Library Folder". Tick this, and this Library folder will now always be unhidden. Open it, and from there you should be able to follow the path to the correct Mods folder.

 

[cobbaut]

That'll be the correct path.

On my machine it is this path (note that steamapps and common is lowercase):
/Users/paul/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps/common/Sid Meier's Civilization IV Beyond the Sword/Mods

 

[BBQ man]

OK, got it, the mysterious hidden Library folder did the trick-- thanks.

 

[Xyth]

Sorry the update is taking longer than I indicated. Partly busy, partly distraction, and partly because I've been working on more extensive changes than I intended. I'm not happy with the 'haphazardness' of all the new diplomacy options and have working on structuring them better. Below is the scheme I'm currently working to. All subject to change, of course. Feedback and suggestions welcome, but note that I'm focused primarily on organizing existing deals/trades better, not adding new ones. (None of this will work on Mac BTS, sorry)


Embassies

• Unlocked at Record Keeping
• Lets you see inside each other's capital
• Espionage Missions cost less against each other
• Necessary to sign Economic Agreements (see below)
• Necessary to sign Military Pacts (see below)

Economic Agreements

Three different levels, can only have one active with each civ at a time (replaces Open Border agreements entirely).​

1. Right of Passage

• Unlocked at Record Keeping
• Enables Trade Routes
• Enables passage for Non-Military Units

2. Trade Agreement

• Unlocked at Paper
• Enables Trade Routes
• Enables Passage for Non-Military Units
• Attitude Bonus
• Can Trade Workers
• +50% Great Merchant Trade Mission bonus

3. Common Market

• Unlocked at TBC
• Enables Trade Routes
• Enables Passage for Non-Military Units
  
• Larger Attitude Bonus
• Can Trade Workers
  
• +50% Great Merchant Trade Mission bonus
  
• +50% Trade Route Yield

Military Pacts

Three different levels, can only have one active with each civ at a time.


1. Non-Aggression Pact

• Unlocked at Ethics
• Agree not to Declare War on each other
• Enables Passage for Military Units

2. Co-operation Pact

• Unlocked at Nationhood
• Agree not to Declare War on each other
• Enables Passage for Military Units
• Attitude Bonus
• Can Trade Military Units
• Can Trade Preparations for War

3. Defensive Pact

• Unlocked at TBC
• Agree not to Declare War on each other
• Enables Passage for Military Units
• Larger Attitude Bonus
• Can Trade Military Units
• Can Trade Preparations for War
• Automatically Declares War if either Party is Attacked

War Pretexts

Advanced Diplomacy has a feature called 'Active Senate' in which your senate might stop you declaring war or force you to make peace if you have a particular civic. It's a replication of a feature from earlier versions of Civ. It's been disabled in the 1.25 beta so far because I don't think it fits well with HR's civics system. However, it occurred to me that I might be able to repurpose it as a 'War Pretext' (Casus Belli) system, vaguely similar to that in Civ6. The idea is that declaring a 'Surprise War' causes a hefty attitude penalty for being a warmonger, but if you declare a 'Formal War' the warmonger penalty is reduced for each valid reason (war pretext) you might have to go to war. I haven't looked too far into this yet, so no promises, and it may be something better suited for after the release of 1.25. Thought I'd mention it though.​

 

[Leoreth]

That looks really interesting. I am wondering how the new treaties affect relationship penalties. For example, does the AI already give "you are trading with our enemies" attitude penalties for Right of Passage?

 

[Xyth]

That looks really interesting. I am wondering how the new treaties affect relationship penalties. For example, does the AI already give "you are trading with our enemies" attitude penalties for Right of Passage?

Still figuring all that out but I wouldn't want Right of Passage or Non-Aggression to cause such penalties. Makes sense for the higher level deals though.